From the Desk of
Bishop Edward U. Kmiec

December 5, 2004

My dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

On this Second Sunday of Advent, I greet you gathered from around our diocese here in our Cathedral of St. Joseph, and welcome you in the love of God, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.

As we progress through this early part of Advent toward the Feast of Christmas, let it be in the spirit proclaimed in the Second Preface of Advent: "In his love Christ has filled us with joy as we prepare to celebrate his birth, so that when he comes he may find us watching in prayer, our hearts filled with wonder and praise."

However, as we gather in this celebration of this Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, we do so also with a triple observance of special significance: our annual Family Life Liturgy; the beginning of our local Diocese of Buffalo marking of the Year of the Eucharist initiated by our Holy Father, Pope John Paul II; and the 150th anniversary of the proclamation of the dogma of Mary's Immaculate Conception as divinely revealed and infallible. All three of these observances have a wonderful convergence, and so very worthy of our prayerful consideration and inspiration.

In our contemporary culture that is so imbued with a growing secularism, relativism, materialism, and hedonism, it is no surprise that the institution of marriage and family life has suffered and is challenged in our times. Those above cultural trends have promoted attitudes that have a profound influence on the way people think and act, often in detriment to the Sacrament of Marriage and the Family. I believe we are well aware of some of the sad consequences of such attitudes: premarital and non-marital cohabitation, abortion, infidelity, the prevalence of divorce, and more recently same-sex unions.

Some years ago, our Holy Father called on all of us of the Church to be involved in "proclaiming the whole truth about marriage and family life: the exclusive nature of conjugal love, the indissolubility of marriage, the Church's full teaching on the transmission of life and the respect due to human life from conception until natural death, and the rights and duties of parents in regard to the education of their children, especially their religious and moral education." We need again, now and ever, to proclaim and promote these and all moral values. It is precisely in our society of today that all of us are called on to live our Faith, to become leaven, salt, and light for the world, and sometimes a "sign of contradiction" that challenges and transforms the world according to the mind of Christ.

It was so refreshing about a month ago for me to preside at a Mass here in the Cathedral to give honor to several hundred couples celebrating their golden jubilees of marriage, fifty years of marital faith and fidelity, and for some sixty and seventy years. What a marvelous witness to marriage and the family that is, and truly a "sign of contradiction" to our world's cultural trends.

In several talks since coming to Buffalo, I have been including a little reflection on family that I have found in print. It says: "A family is people who grow together in faith, work together in hope, worship together in love, bear one another's sorrow, forgive one another's faults, share one another's joy, need one another, love one another, support one another, look for God in one another, see God in everyone, live as individuals, are separate yet one, and are joined by God's presence living in each other." May such be what we witness to in living out our family lives, whether the basic families that we are, and the extended families that are our parishes and our diocese, which are in reality a family of families, a true "holy communion of souls."

To speak of family and communion offers an apt sequence to one of our other observances today, our diocesan participation in the Year of the Eucharist, as invited by our Holy Father and which we initiate today at this Mass. What could be more timely as we seek the strengthening of family life and await Christ's coming at Christmas, than to focus on the Eucharist as Jesus' presence among us. In his homily inaugurating the Eucharistic year, our Holy Father asked that the coming year be used to foster and promote "a more keen awareness of the Eucharist, with more deeply felt celebration, with prolonged and fervent adoration, with a greater commitment to solidarity and service to the neediest." In instituting the Eucharist, our Lord left us a great gift, a mystery, the real presence of himself and his own body to eat, to nourish our souls and spiritual life.

Borrowing again the words of our Holy Father's homily: "In the bread and wine that have become the Body and Blood of Christ, it is precisely he, the risen Lord, who opens minds and hearts and makes us recognize him. In this convivial gesture, we relive the sacrifice of the Cross, we experience God's infinite love, we feel called to spread Christ's light among men and women of our time."

To celebrate the Year of the Eucharist, the Vatican's Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments offered suggestions for the year ahead. Among them, the Congregation said that if the only things a parish did to promote this special year were to take more care in how Sunday Mass was celebrated, and to encourage adoration, the year would be successful. Beyond that, the Congregation asked parishes to develop a more intense catechesis about the Eucharist, utilizing Scripture, the writings of the early Christian theologians, the Catholic Catechism, and stories of saints who were devoted to the Eucharist. To that end, I encourage and strongly urge all of our parishes, institutions, and especially our Catholic schools and religious education programs for the young, to institute times for Eucharistic adoration and catechesis. For adoration of the Eucharist, First Fridays and perhaps one Sunday afternoon a month would be good times for such worship. I am delighted to learn that several parishes already have perpetual adoration, though that is not possible everywhere. Nonetheless, some time for Eucharistic adoration should be provided in as many churches and chapels as possible in our diocese. This would be especially advantageous for our young, many of whom have never seen a monstrance or benediction service. I also ask that parishes make a special effort for increased efforts to take the Eucharist to sick and shut-ins, whether in nursing homes or homebound. All in all, may each of us in this coming year find new meaning and experience of the Eucharist, the symbol of Christ's love for us all. Let us all not just be bystanders, but also fervent participants.

Lastly, today we also observe the 150th anniversary of the proclamation of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, declaring her free of sin even from conception. Today, we have spoken of family and the Eucharist. We honor Mary, Mother of Jesus and the holy family, and mother of us all. She is also the proclaimed "woman of the Eucharist." As we wend our way as families and extended families in this Eucharistic year, may we follow in the footsteps of Mary, who knew Christ as the way, the truth, and the life.

God bless you!

+Most Rev. Edward U. Kmiec
Bishop of Buffalo